Sunday, 22 July 2012

Now that Madoka has been reunited with her best buddies Lan and Muginami, it seems as if our protagonist doesn't have a care in the world as she frolics on the beach in her own inimitable style.

Of course, despite such fun and frolics there's no getting away from the gravity of the situation in space, and more specifically for both of Madoka's friends, and with the galactic conference that aims to reach some kind of agreement between Le Garite and De Metrio drawing ever nearer the tension is palpable.

With no obvious agreement between these two factions in sight as things stand, Asteria is desperate to find some way of showing the potential of the Vox beyond destruction, leading to a potentially dangerous suggestion - for Madoka to perform the same Vox Particle Control Experiment foisted upon Lan by her brother. Having already seen how dangerous this can be for a person's psyche, Lan in particular is none too keen on the idea, but ultimately everyone (Madoka included) decides that it's the only way forward. As the experiment begins, it seems as it Madoka is going to be either too strong or too plain dumb for the testing to even work - at least, that is, until Asteria proves herself adept at pushing just the right buttons on the test subject. Even she is shocked by the results however, as Madoka posts numbers off the charts, and the whole thing looks set to go horribly wrong as the sky turns red and strange beings start to appear like some kind of Evangelion rip-off. Luckily, Madoka has her wits about her just enough to shut down whatever is going on, but it's another terrifying example of the Vox Aura's power within Madoka's hands, and it's a demonstration that hasn't gone unnoticed by the other factions who have been taking more than a keen interest in such developments.

Having been all ready to dismiss this episode as being a bit dull and with not much going on during its first two-thirds, all of that changed by the final segment of this episode as it wastes no time in showing just how lethal the Vox Aura could be in the wrong hands. Perhaps the more pressing question now is whether Madoka's hands are the right ones given the terrifying visions seen here - visions which maintain Rinne no Lagrange's place as a visually striking riot of colour from the viewer's perspective, at least. I do worry that the series as a whole is moving too slowly when I expected a brisker pace after the opening to this second season, but given its visuals and its ability to offset all the serious stuff with just the right amount of humour, at least it's still pretty fun to watch even when it seems to be spinning its wheels.